Challenge of the Heart
by Yeu
Summary: [SO3] Young hearts run free as love grows within the group. Fayt has his heart set on someone who's unlikely to return his affections. Sophia has her heart set on Fayt, Maria can care less, and Nel's just caught in the middle. ShounenAi.
1. Illogical Love

**Challenge of the Heart**

_By:_ Yeu

_Comment:_... I'm trying to write a romance comedy, or I think I am. Never done this genre before, I tend to like making my characters angst and stuff. Italics means thought. I personally don't like Sophia, and is terrified when Peppita ask me to let her join. But I'm not about to bash anyone, okay, maybe Sophia a little. Just a little. Depending on how people react, I may or may not continue it, since it is a trial run thing.

I don't own any part of the Star Ocean series except a copy of the games. So no suing.

* * *

Fayt smile sheepishly; even blush a bit as he tells her of his problems. "I would ask Cliff but he seems to be a bit lacking in this area and well... it just seems wrong to ask Sophia." 

_No kidding, the girl is so obviously in love with you that anyone with eyes and a few working brain cells can tell. Anyone except for you it seems, now I know it's because your eyes are on another_. The Crimson Blade thinks to herself.

"I know you and him doesn't get along too well." The young Earthling continued, running his finger through his hair nervously. "But I just don't know who else to go to."

Nel nods in agreement, although it's somewhat of an understatement. "You know Maria actually gets along better with him than me."

"Maria is a bit too... distant and analytical with everything." Fayt replies. "You go to her for numbers and facts, not things like this."

Again, the woman has to agree, but that does not mean she would give in to his request.

"Please, Nel." Fayt continues to beg, his clear green eyes shines with hope. "Just this once. PLEASE?"

"... Fine." Nel mentally kicks herself for giving in. "Now, tell me again what do you want me to do?"

_Just talk to him, sure, I might as well talk to a wall, at least I'll know it doesn't listen. That boy sure knows how to look for trouble._ The redhead thinks to herself as she slides her fingertips over the smooth surface of her daggers. _Albel the Wicked is not someone you should fall for, but love rarely knows reason._

"Why him?" She had asked the youth back then.

The shy but brilliant smile that he answered her with told her all she needs to know.

Despite her numerous doubts about the situation, Nel find herself wishing her blue-haired friend would get his love returned. Fayt has suffered much, it'll do him well to find someone that'll watch out for him and care for him, someone he can lean on. Sadly, those are the qualities that Albel Nox lacks, tremendously. But even if that's the case, what about Sophia? The girl also had some tough times that she had to go through alone, having her heart broken will not be easy for her to handle, especially now.

_Why can't he have just answered Sophia's affections?_ The woman sighs,_ that'll make everything so much easier._

Nel looks at the empty bed in the inn room she shares with Sophia, the girl had been gone since morning. Probably trying to get Fayt into shopping with her again. Maria and Mirage share a room next to theirs while the boys' rooms are across the inn. She sheaths her daggers and put on her boots, Albel might be in right now, but that's a big maybe.

"Fayt? Are you in?" Nel knocks on the door to Fayt and Albel's room. The blue-haired boy began sharing a room with the Captain of the Black Brigade simply because no one else is willing to. Now she thinks about it, might that have been the first step?

No one answered her knockings.

"Nox, I know you are in there, open the door. I need to talk to you." Nel knocks again when no one answered, but her spy instinct tells her that there is someone in the room. "Albel, open the door, or I'll pick it open."

"What do you want, maggot?" The man answers the door wearing an extremely annoyed expression.

"I told you what I want five minutes ago. If you didn't wait so long to open the door, maybe you would've remembered." The woman told him as she pushes her way into the room before Albel can slam the door in her face.

"If you are looking for fights go somewhere else, fool."The man sounds extremely agitated and exhaustion lines his tone of voice like a heavy curtain. It's also hard to believe that the bloodthirsty Albel would turn down a fight, but then he does look to be quite... ragged.

"Again, I'm not looking for a fight, I just want to talk." The woman chooses the position by the window so she can see the people going in and out of the inn. "Where is Fayt?"

"I'm not that maggot's parasite, how would I know?" The Airglyph Captain lets himself fall into a chair and glances at his unwanted visitor from the corner of his eyes. "Probably doing something pointless with that girl. Leave."

"I didn't know maggots can have parasites, but that's besides the point." The redhead looks at the people passing in the streets before turning back to Albel. "I need to talk to you about the boy."

"I"m not going to kill him. There, we are done. Get out, fool." The man seems to be in an even worse mood than he normally is, yet he is not as aggressive as his usual self. Nel frankly is quite surprised to find the usually arrogant man in such a passive state.

"No, on the contrary, we are not done." The woman crosses her arms, her spy skills on full power, observing her target carefully and files away all information. "Do you dislike the boy that much that you don't even want to talk about him?"

"I hate every last one of you maggots out there." The man answers carelessly. "Happy? Out."

"Not yet." Nel decides to take the direct approach and goes in for the kill. "How do you feel about Fayt, Nox, I want the truth."

"I don't feel like talking to fools right now. And how many times must I repeat myself? Get the hell out of here."

_Avoiding the question or just doesn't like to talk? Probably both._ "I'm surprised Nox, you have yet to threaten to kill me or do anything permanent damage to me. You must be losing your touch." Nel know she's treading on a fine line, but there is no other way to deal with the maniac.

"That can be remedied." The man picks up his katana from the table next to him and slowly stands up.

"Fayt won't be happy about that." It was just for a second, but Nel is sure that he hesitated at the name. _Well Fayt, count your lucky stars; you might not be the only one after all._ "So you do like the boy."

The notorious Albel the Wicked almost stutters at the question, almost. "What?"

Catching a glimpse of a pair of moving figures from the corner of her eye, Nel sighs. _Why can't they have better timing?_ She pushes herself up from the windowsill, and make her way across the room. "We'll talk another time Nox, unless you want to do something about that, and I don't mean murdering me."

Albel watch her leave through glaring eyes, it has probably been a while since anyone talked to him like that. But the man still made no move to go on the offense, why the change? Once back to the comfort of her room, the female spy let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding the whole time. She still cannot believe that the red-eyed man hasn't come after her with his sword yet, but it only helps her theory. Now if only she can get him to admit it.

A gentle knock on the door. "Nel, it's Sophia, I'm back."

"Come in."

The young Earthling girl opens the door and comes in with almost a prance in her steps. She drops the packages she has been holding on her bed and hums a foreign tone as she unpacks each.

"Quite a hull, did Fayt got you all that?"

Sophia smiles brightly as she nods, the happiness and radiance of the smile send Nel into a spiral of guilt. _I'm helping this girl lose her crush, yet she is smiling at me without any guards._

"Sophia, can I ask you a question?" The young girl nods. "Do... you like Fayt?" Nel asks tentatively.

Sophia blushes deeply at the question and nods again. "Is it that obvious?"

_More than you know._ "Not really, does he know?" _Of course he doesn't know, he's been blinded by another._

"I haven't told him yet." Sophia whispers. "But I think and hope he feels the same."

Alarms starts to go off in Nel's mind, this cannot be good. "Really. What make you think that?"

"Well, Fayt's always there for me and he's always the first one who notices anything wrong with me." Sophia sits on her bed and kicks her legs as she speaks. "We always spend time together and you know... just how he acts. I know he cares about me, a lot."

_Maybe not in that way_. "Well then, maybe you should tell him?"

The girl blushes even deeper. "I think... maybe after everything settles down. After we beat the Creator and the 4D beings."

_Oh boy._ "Do you think there might be another possibility that he likes someone else?"

"You noticed too?" Sophia appears in front of Nel quicker than a blink of an eye. "When I first saw Maria I didn't know how to act. I mean, she is so much prettier and smarter and oh... what if when I wasn't around..."

Nel tune out for the rest of the rant, mentally drawing charts in her mind to better understand the situation like she's been taught to do. _Sophia likes Fayt and thinks vice versa. Sophia thinks Fayt also like Maria. Maria probably cares less about everything. Fayt actually likes Albel. Albel likes to be left alone... or does he?_

"... and Maria is a much better fighter than I am. She also has that aura of grown woman that you also have. Did you notice Fayt agrees to everything she says? What happens if she also likes Fayt?!..."

Apparently Nel needs to blank out for a bit longer, Sophia is going off like a young girl who has finally found someone to talk to, which in a way, is true. Then suddenly Sophia turns to Nel with a gleam in her eyes, a gleam that Nel has a bad feeling about.

"Nel, you have been with Fayt longer right?" Sophia asks Nel. "What do you think? Does Fayt like me?"

"Well, he does talk about you." _Sometimes, here and there, little details you probably happier not knowing._ "And he does worry about you when he knew you were captured."

"Then Nel, can you talk to Fayt for me?" The young girl asks earnestly. "Just to be sure?"

As much as Nel anticipated the question and prepares to reject it outright, she found herself speechless at Sophia's sincerity and puppy-eyes. And for the second time in as many days, the woman finds herself mentally kicking her own ass as she nods in agreement.

"Thank you so much!" Sophia beams at her and quickly runs to open the door when she hears a knock. "Hey Fayt!"

"I'm just here to tell you guys that dinner is ready." The boy that is soon becoming the source of all Nel's headache says politely.

"You guys go ahead, I'll be right down." The Crimson Blade waves the young pair on.

"You okay?" Fayt asks.

"Yes, I'll be down soon. Tell Cliff not to eat my share."

She watch the Earthlings leave and let out a long sigh. What a mess she's gotten herself into? Nel shakes her head clear; she has yet to find a challenge she can't overcome and Apris forbid if this one is going to ruin her record. Nel tries to ignore the feeling of incoming doom as she finally leaves the room and salvage what's left of dinner.


	2. Extreme Planning

**Challenge of the Heart**  
Chapter 2

_By:_ Yeu

_Comment:_ Thank everyone for their support by reviewing the last chapter. Anyway, here's chapter 2 . It was suppose to be out sooner but the day I sat aside for working on it, I spend nursing a hang over. Please keep up with the comment and suggestions, I'll work hard to write a atory that everyone will like

Again, I own no part of Star Ocean. I wish I did, I need the money.

* * *

Any good spy knows that in order to accomplish a mission, you must research ahead of time. It doesn't matter how little information there is, but every last piece will come into use sometime or another. But you can't let others be aware that you know, so you have to secretly look up everything and only reveal your hand when the time comes. 

That is the reason why Nel is currently in her room, her door lock with three deadbolts, surrounded by books. Not just any books mind you; romance novels, poetry, psychological analysis on the effects of love had on one's mental stability… you name it. During an unplanned trip back to the Aquios Castle, the Crimson Blade found time to excuse herself from the rest of the party to do a little studying. Stopping by the castle library, Nel took out all books that are even remotely related to the subject of love. Jotting down notes and high points on the pieces of spare paper, the daughter of the Zelpher house carefully goes through each page, word for word when a loud knock breaks her concentration and snaps her out of her task.

"Yo! Nel!" Cliff's loud voice is only slightly muffled by the door. "What'cha doing?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Nel replies, slumping back in her chair. Taking the chance to let her eyes wonder and her muscles to relax.

"Well, mind opening up?"

"Why? I can hear you perfectly like this. Just as I'm sure everyone in Airgylph can also hear you."

Silence. "I just want to talk to you… you know… privately."

"Well, with that volume I don't think it's possible, but hold on, I'll open up." The woman begins to put the books away, making sure the titles and covers of the novels and poetry are hidden either by the wall or books above them.

Cliff tries the knob after a bit of waiting. "It's still locked, is it stuck?"

"That's because I haven't open it yet, hold on, I'll be right with you." Nel sighs, wishing Cliff can have as much patience as his voice volume.

The man waits a bit longer before trying again. "It's still stuck, hold on, I'll fix it."

_How can he fix something that's not broken? … Oh no._ "Cliff! Stop!"

Too late, a loud bang signal an impact that sends Nel's door flying through the room, almost hitting her and sending the pages of notes that she has been taking tediously raining down the room. The Kalusian stands at the doorway, smirking as if he had done something great, and continues to smirk until he meets Nel's death glare through the storm of paper.

"What in Apris' name do you think you are doing?" The woman almost screams in response to the tearing down of her door.

"Fixing your door." The man replies with a shrug. "See? It's okay, you should thank me."

"That's because it was locked you oaf!"

"Oh." It takes Cliff several moments to connect the dots together. "Sorry, but… can we talk?"

"Talk? Privately right?" Nel can feel a vein in her temple bursting. "How many people do you think that stunt you just did will attract???"

Almost in response to the woman's words, many rapid footsteps echoing on the hallway quickly approach them. In no time, the formerly empty hallway is filled with people, all asking questions.

"What happened?"

"Was it a sneak attack? By who?"

The Crimson Blade glares ice daggers at the blond man still standing idiotically at her doorway and bends down to retrieve her notes.

"Nel!" The voice of a young man suddenly rings above the other chatters. "We heard you are under attack! Are you okay?"

The woman looks up to see Fayt and Sophia pushing through the crowd. Albel is behind them, but the man didn't need to push, his glare opens up a path for him.

"I'm fine." The redhead nods. "No thanks to him." She glares at a nervously smiling Cliff.

While the Quark agent explains to everyone else what happened, Nel quickly gathers up her pages of notes and tucks them in a safe and out of the way place. The last thing she needs is for people to find a page of it and get the wrong idea; the whole situation is complicated enough as it is. The crowds begin to disperse now that there isn't anything interesting going on anymore, soon only the party members are left behind.

"Is that what happened?" Fayt asks with a goofy smile on his face. "We heard that a assassin attacked Lady Nel and killed her."

"The rumor mill is too eager to get to work." Cliff complains. ("I doubt nothing less than a stampeding horde of house-sized dragons can kill off a fool like her." Murmurs the all-friendly Albel the Wicked.)

"No, it's your fists too eager to do the thinking for your head." Nel said as she approaches the group that is gathered outside her what's left of her door, giving the blond-tipped man a very hard glare to notify him that she heard his little comment. "Next time, when I ask you to wait, it means wait."

"I thought the door is stuck and you were to proud to ask for help." The Klausian shrugs. "Otherwise why would it take you so long to open up?"

"Because I was in the middle of putting my things away." The woman continues her death glare.

"Oh."

Sophia suddenly notices something at the edge of her vision, a piece of paper that had slipped halfway behind a piece of furniture. Good naturally, she walks over and retrieves the paper. "Nel, is this …" Before she can even finish her sentence, the woman has ripped the paper out of her grasp, leaving the girl stun and very surprised.

"I'm sorry." Nel murmurs after she realizes how harsh the action seems. "It's just that… this is secret document." She lies.

"Oh." Sophia's face brightens up. "Okay, I wasn't about to read it anyway."

"Thank you for finding it through." Nel nods at the girl. "I would be in trouble if it goes missing."

"Now that you fools are done babbling, can we please get a move on?" The Airglyph captain finally speaks. "Preferably sometime before our universe gets deleted?"

"What's the big hurry? Didn't we already decide that we'd be staying here tonight?" Mirage asks, still surveying the damage done by Cliff's impatience.

"I know that maggot." Albel sneers as he walks up to Maria. "Come on, I want to get it done with."

The 'invitation' shocks everyone. The notion of Albel the Wicked doing anything with anyone is ridiculous, but here he is, asking Maria in front of everyone. Nel sneaks a peek at Fayt and swears she can see a sudden dark shadow overcastting itself on the youth's face. _This does not bode well…_

"Alright." The young woman nods calmly. "But shouldn't we get one other person? It usually works better with three…"

"I don't have that much tolerance for fools…" The swordsman begins to answer.

"I'll go! What do you need help with?" Fayt volunteers almost way too enthusiastically, and Nel catches a flash of anger across Sophia's face.

_And the drama just doesn't end…_Nel thinks to herself, all the more reason to finish that plan she's working on so they can actually concentrate on the fight ahead, not the hormones overloading.

"Well," Maria looks over at Albel. "It's your call."

"Whatever fools." The man growls as he begins to walk away. "Just hurry up."

Maria turns and follows Albel, Fayt makes a move to catch up with the pair but his childhood friend has taken a firm possession of his sleeve.

"Fayt!" Sophia complains. "You promised you would go shopping with me!"

"But we already did!"

"We weren't done!"

"Fayt, you coming?" Maria's voice echoes off the hallway.

"I'll make it up to you another time!" The youth says to his friend and quickly takes off, leaving Sophia looking like she is about to cry. Nel rolls her eyes at the drama before her, add a few more plot twists and she thinks they might have a future best seller.

"Alright everyone, get out." The Crimson Blade said as she begins to push everyone out and orders a servant nearby to fetch a piece of wood big enough to serve as a door until it's gets fix. "I still have word to get done and I can't do it with you people standing like statues outside my door. Cliff, I will send you the bill after the door's fixed."

Cliff grunts but says nothing, probably the best idea he came up with all day anyway.

After a few hours of relentless organizing and reorganizing, Nel is finally done putting together her notes and plan out the course of action. She looks over at the plan of engagement, making sure each part of the plot is consistent with her finds from the romance novels and other sources. Making some last minute changes, the Crimson Blade carefully tucks the top secret document inside a hidden compartment on the inside of her chest protector. Stretching a little to loosen her muscles, she is ready to carry out the mission.

As she leaves the room, a paper that's accidentally left behind rests patiently on her desk, on it are many writings. It reads…

**Nel's Lovey-Dovey All-Purpose Fool-Proof Plan (tm) Version 1.0 **

Step 1  
A couple that kills together, stays together

Participants – Max of 2  
Albel Nox (Whom will be referred to as A)  
Fayt Leingod (Whom will be referred to as F)

Non-Participants  
Sophia Esteed (Whom will be referred to as S) and others

Summary  
According to the research, people often find those who share an interest with them to be more attractive and through shared activities can be drawn to each other. The plan is to use A's only known hobby and put A & F into a situation where the participants can share something that A likes and hopefully promotes bonding between A & F.

That or F finally realizing how dangerous A can be and get the hell away.

Warning  
This step is designed for use with A in mind, who has to be one of two participants. All other combinations may cause mental stress that can lead to mental illness, paranoia, and other forms of after-effects in the participants. If severe enough, one shall report immediately to a doctor.

This step should be used in a controlled area, as A has a tendency to be unable to differ between friend and foe when A gets too involved with his actions.

Emergency procedures should be kept on hand at all times during the carrying out of this step. Recommendations: Anything that causes paralysis/sleep/immobility temporary. Items/methods that causes confusion shall not be used under any conditions. In extreme cases, it may be necessary to restrain A's movement by rendering him incap.


	3. Nel hates Murphy's Law

**Challenge of the Heart**  
Chapter 3 

_By:_ Yeu

_Comment:_ Thanks again for the reviews everyone, I know people were probably disappointed that the last chapter didn't have that much AlbelxFayt, but I will make it up to you, I promise X3 The story is slowly rolling along, I'm sorry it's taking so long for me to write each chapter, I'm not used to writing comedy (and I don't know if this story classifies as comedy ) Please tell me what I should improve so I can become better!

Again, I do not own the characters of the game of Star Ocean.

* * *

The Crimson Blade is used to having last minute changes to plan, she has been in the spy business for years after all. Today was suppose to be the big day, when Fayt either realizes his mistake and vow to never think 'Albel' and 'love' within ten minutes of each other ever again or they declare their hidden feelings for each other and get the whole mess out of Nel's hair. But there is one small problem… 

The Great Albel Nox, Albel the Wicked, Albel the Destroyer, Albel the I-Eat-Babies, refuses to leave his room and swear a bloody and painful death upon anyone who dares to break down the locked door (Nel think that threat is to remind Cliff not to do anything rush like yesterday or he'll find a few inches of steel between his breakfast and lunch.)

To start from the beginning, when Mirage went to wake up Cliff that morning, she was very surprised to find the Fayt out cold in Cliff's room for some reason. From there, it didn't take long to notice that Albel the early-riser did not appear to be around. Then Maria found the note impaled on the door to the room that Albel and Fayt used to share declaring anyone who dares to open the door better have a death wish, as they will die in pieces, many of them.

The next logical step was to question Fayt, whom still have yet to snap out of his sleep-induced incoherency. It didn't take long for everyone to realize that the questioning would get nowhere unless the youth regains some form of common logic. But at the rate that the youth is falling back into sleep, it doesn't look like it's going to be anytime soon.

"What were you guys doing last night anyway?" Out of all other options, Nel turns to Maria.

The question put a stop to all small conversations between the other party members as everyone was wondering about the same object since Airglyph's captain's surprise 'invitation' the day before.

"Synthesizing." The young woman shrugs. "Then we made a few other stuff."

"… that's it?" Sophia asks tentatively after a few moment of silence where everyone waits for more explanation. Nel suspects that her curiosity is influenced by another, stronger emotion. The others are probably greatly disappointed at the normal answer, more than likely they were expecting Maria to say that they wipe out a few forest full of monsters or something along those lines.

"That's it." Maria nods surely.

"But wouldn't it made more sense to ask Mirage or Sophia to help with the synthesizing than you?" Cliff asks, oblivious to how rude that might sound.

"He didn't ask for help." Maria shakes her head. "I caught him trying to so the synthesizing alone and he was making quite a mess. So I offered him help and he didn't really have any choice but to accept it." She frowns slightly at the suspicion about her ability, it's true that those in question are better than her, but she can always use her ability to cheat.

"Well, that made sense." Mirage sits back on the couch, laughing a bit from the mental image of the stern Albel messing up. "I can't imagine Albel would do anything with anyone unless it lead to killing in one form or another." She pokes lightly at the sleeping youth next to her, who murmurs for a bit but still refuses to wake up.

"And what happened after that?" Nel continues.

"Fayt and I tried our hand at compounding while Albel did adjustments on his arm. Then we made a few other items together. You can ask Welch, we called her quite late and she was a bit unhappy with us." The leader of Quark sighs. "Then by the time we got back you were all asleep already."

"That explains why Fayt sleeps like he just got ran over by a few battleships, but that really doesn't explain that." The Klausian man points to the locked door with the impaled note.

"I really have no idea what caused such behavior." Maria shakes her head. "I imagine Fayt would know better than me."

"Then there is only one way to find out." Cliff smirks as he picks up the boy dozing off next to Mirage on the sofa easily and slings him over his shoulder.

"What are you going to do to him?" Sophia nearly shrieks. "Put him down!"

"Waking up the sleeping beauty." The tall man smiles. "Trust me!"

The party watch on as Cliff carries Fayt into the kitchen, a moment later a loud scream echoes down the hall way as a drenched blue haired youth come running into the lobby of the hotel, only to be welcome by the giggling and poorly hidden smirks of his fellow teammates. Cliff comes strutting out a few seconds later, a mischievous smile on his face.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Fayt screams at the Quark agent, "I was having a great dream!"

"Well, you refuse to wake up when we tried other gentler methods."

"I would rather you wake me up with a sword in the pillow like Albel than…" Fayt suddenly realizes what he was saying and shushes up.

"Is that how he wakes you up? I will have to try that next time." Cliff winks at the young Earthling.

"Oh, do shut up." Then the rest of reality catches up with Fayt as he looks around. "What is everyone doing out here?"

"We found you in Cliff's room this morning." Nel sighs as she explains. "And then we found a note on your door by Albel saying anyone who enters dies. We are wondering if you know anything about why Albel has locked himself up in your room."

Fayt looks up dumbly at the locked door on the second floor, his blank expression shows that he understands the situation probably less than everyone else.

"So what do we do? Do we just leave him here and move on?" Cliff suggests.

"Then we would have probably left you hundreds of times for over-sleeping." Mirage comments as she waves Fayt over and starts helping him get dry with the help of Sophia.

"Then any bright ideas about getting Mr. Lunatic out without losing any limbs?" The Klausian man crosses his arms in front of his chest.

No one said anything, no one knows the answer.

"I thought so." Cliff murmurs, feeling superior.

"If we leave him, are you going to volunteer to be the one who we send down unknown hallways to test for traps?" Nel says. "Or do we have to induce insanity in you first to do that?"

This time, Cliff is the one who doesn't say anything.

"Then shut up and help us think." The Crimson Blade lays the smack down.

"Sca-ree." The blond man murmurs.

Silence again falls on the tiny lobby where the party is gathered. Maria leans against the wall with her hands on her chin, the young woman's typical posture for when she's deep in thought. Mirage and Sophia continues to dry Fayt with some towels they got from the innkeeper, but since Fayt currently can't get into his room, he does not have anything dry to change into and Cliff is not hearing the end of his complaints. Nel sighs again, there goes her big plan for the day, and she put so much time and effort into it too.

"Anyway, Fayt, you said you had a great dream, what was it about?" Sophia asks in order to lighten up the mood.

"My dream?" Fayt blinks. "Oh, it was about…"

* * *

"Have you waited long?" Fayt's friend asked him. 

"Hmm." Fayt nodded, opened one eye and found himself staring at a pair of long, slender legs curtained by the skirt that is a part of his school's girls uniform. Not that he's looking on purpose mind you, it's just that from his position on the bench, that's the logical view.

"I'm sorry." His friend continued. "The professor wanted to speak to me about my paper."

"You could've told me not to come so early then." The blue-haired Earthling complained. _Do I know this person? I don't think I know any girl in my school with such nice legs._

"I'm sorry. I didn't think he would talk for so long." His friend sighed and shifted her weight onto the other leg. "So are we still on?"

"Maybe, but you owe me lunch." Fayt teased. _Who is this? She seems familiar. Where have I seen those legs and braids before?_

"Hey!" She exclaimed. "I said I was sorry. What kind of a guy are you? Making a girl pay for lunch?" Fayt felt a little smack on the back of his head.

"I'm just joking!" He laughed, although it doesn't really hurt, he still rubbed at the impact point. "Sophia said she also wants to come to the beach with us." _So this is not Sophia? That's right. I'm remember her legs, they aren't as nice…_

"Really?" His friend chuckled a little. "She's worried about someone stealing you while she's not there? Maybe I need to bring out my new bikini so you won't ignore me then."

"Hey, Sophia and I are just friends!" Fayt replied defensively. _Whoever you are, unless you look like Cliff, I don't think I'll mind you in a bikini._

"So it's set? We are meeting over the vacation then?" She laughed and clapped her hands in joyful anticipation.

"You bet." Fayt nods and looks up. "Albel."

* * *

"I forgot." Fayt lies quickly, lowering his head so no one sees the sudden blushing. _If Albel knew I had a dream like that, I would be so dead._ A shiver runs through Fayt's body as various forms of ancient torture marches through his head uninvited. 

"We need to get him into something dry soon." Mirage said, mistaking the shivering for chills. "This is getting ridiculous, I'm not going to let Fayt get a cold just because Albel is feeling anti-social." She said as she drops the towels and stands up.

Cliff and Maria identifies the determined look in the woman's eyes immediately, but as much as they like to protest, both know once the Klausian woman makes up her mind, nothing short of the sky crashing is going to change it.

"Cliff, come with me." She orders, the rest of the party follows obediently behind the pair. Eager to see what Mirage is planning.

Cliff stands meekly at where his partner instructs, looking confusingly at her. The woman then gives him one of her sweetest, most innocent smile before she punches him squarely in the chest. The man, unable to defend himself from the surprise attack, falls backwards and crashes through the formerly locked door to the astonishment of his friends.

"Owww…" The Kalusian man murmurs as he lies among the remains of the door. But before he can get up and yell at Mirage, a shadow befalls on him.

Cliff looks up to see a pair of eyes burning with rage, but before he can pay attention to anything else, he has to quickly rolls away to avoid a strike that might have severed his neck.

Those standing at the door, however, aren't so occupied with saving their own life so they get a good look at the strange occupant. It is a tall, slim man with light colored hair whose tips end in a light blue shade. His skin is a deep shade of brown and seems even darker when compared to his hair. The man, who's bare chest (but much to the ladies' disappointment, he is dressed on the lower half of his body) and soft strands of hair with slight moisture suggests that he'd been in the shower shortly before the breaking and entering. He does however; sport some familiar characteristics, like the blackened stump of what was formerly an arm attached to his left shoulder. Then there are the eyes, curtained by triangular bluish marks on the man's face, are a ferocious red.

"Albel?" Fayt gasps.

TBC…


	4. Cliff, punching bag extraordinaire

**Challenge of the Heart**  
Chapter 4 

_By_: Yeu

_Comment:_ I finally finished the game and showed my sister the ending between Fayt & Albel, she agrees that it's VERY much like lover's quarrel. Then that scene in Urssa Lava Temple, seriously, those two need to get a room, with soundproof walls to work out their differences…

Although I've said it hundreds of times, I still have to get this out of the way. Me no own Star Ocean. Got it? Good.

* * *

When we left off last time, Fayt has just gotten a rather rude, not to mention wet, awakening. Before he can plant his feet securely in reality, he is thrown another curve ball in the form of Albel Nox, without his usual color palette. 

"Albel… is that you?" The young Earthling murmurs hesitantly.

"Who the hell do you think I'm then? Fool! Can't any of you maggots READ?" The string of cursing emerges from the man's mouth like a waterfall and even Cliff has to flinch at some of the more colorful descriptions.

"That's Albel Nox alright." Nel concludes, wincing at a particular vile insult, which probably needs a fine understanding of the anatomy to be able to think up. The woman does not wish to speculate how Albel the Wicked could have gained that knowledge. She also has to be truthful though, that despite the handicap and unfamiliar coloring, Albel looks quite… delectable in his current state. The man is many things, but no one has ever called him ugly because that's about as far away from the truth as sanity is form Albel's twisted mind.

"I ought to put some holes in each of you worm's head so maybe your brains would get more air and become more efficient!"

Thankfully the threat is empty at this point, the swordsman's katana lays on the table near the door and his claws are no where to be seen. With only one good hand, how much damage can the lithe man do?

Apparently one should never underestimate the abilities of an insane man. Weaponless (and half-naked), the Airglyph captain picks up the nearest item, which happens to be Cliff still on the floor, and throws him at the group gathered at his doorway. If anyone had time to speculate, they might be amazed at just how much strength the thin (and probably underweight) man posses, which is most likely amplified by his insanity for Cliff is not among the lightweights. It should be noted, however, that no one has that leisure at that point since no one feels that getting a full-grown, muscular, bulky Klausian thrown at him or her is fun or pleasant.

As the party ducks for cover, Cliff crashes though the doorframe and lands on an unfortunate individual who didn't have the reflexes to duck in time with a loud 'Oof.'

"Sophia!" Fayt gasps when he sees who the one that hit the jackpot is and rushes over to help his childhood friend. "Are you okay? Is anything broken? Cliff, get the hell off of her!"

"Fayt" Is all Sophia can manage with a hairless gorilla on top of her. Tears twinkles at the edge of her eyes from the pain.

Cliff, however, is still blissfully aware of what, or who the cushion is that softened his fall. The Kalusian's head is still somewhat spinning from getting punched and thrown, both in under three minutes. He reaches out to find support to hold himself up, and is answer with a shriek when his hand touched something… soft.

"PREVERT!" Before the blond Klausian can even comprehend what's going on, a sudden tiny fist connects with his jaw, although it did not send him flying again, it still stings somewhat.

"What the hell was that for?" Cliff complains, trying to shake his head clear.

"Cliff! Get off of Sophia already!" Fayt tries again, truly worried for the safety of his friend. The girl is starting to look rather oxygen-deprived. "And GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"

"Get out of the way." Nel said to the panicking boy, who does so. The woman proceeds to send the big oaf flying (again) with a square kick in the back.

"Are you okay, Sophia?" The blue-haired young man quickly returns to his friend's side to help her up.

The daughter of the Esteeds burst into tears in the arms of Fayt, rather she is in a lot of pain and feeling taken advantage of or is just taking advantage of the situation is known only to her.

"What the hell was that for?" Finally gotten tired of being the punching bag for just about everyone, the Quark agent complains loudly.

"For being a sicko, Cliff, I'm really disappointed in you." Mirage shakes her head as she answers for Nel.

"What the hell are you talking about?" The man complains.

"First you try to get Fayt sick by drenching him in ice water, than you do that to Sophia?" the Klausian woman sighs. "I think I should re-evaluate what I think of you."

Due to the confusion of everything that's going on, everyone has forgotten about a certain psychopath who had his color pigments rearranged recently and was just threatening the group with gorey death earlier. His face suddenly darkens at the sight of Sophia clinging to Fayt, but no one noticed that. Then he notices the state of the young man, still looking like a dog that's been thrown into water (never mind that's quite close to what really happened) and his expression only darkens some more. Everything is made even worse when the culprit to (in Albel's mind) the whole mess is made clear. Despite being still weaponless, half-naked, and one armed, those kinds of minor detail never stop a maniac from trying to kill someone.

"Wah! Albel? What do you think…! Gah! Someone! Get this psychopath off of me!" Cliff yells for dear life.

Despite how amusing the scene looks: big, muscular Cliff under the slim, coughfemininecough Albel. Trying to avoid any serious and lasting injuries despite the fact that all the latter had to hurt the former is his nails on his one good arm. They are doing enough damage to the inn as it is.

"Knock it off, you two!" Mirage said as she and Nel tries to break the two men apart. Sophia is still refusing to release her grip on Fayt, who is thinking about the almost hilarity behind Albel's use of his disable arm like a very inefficient club, and Maria stands by with an unreadable expression on her face, most likely speculating the immaturity of her teammates.

Finally able to separate the two combatants with Albel still swearing like an open faucet, Mirage turns to her partner.

"Now, Cliff, that's enough mischief for today." She said like a mother scolding a child. "And go apologize to Sophia, what you did was very inappropriate."

"So everything's MY fault?" The man exclaims. "Why don't you go yell at Mr. Albino over there for using me as a dodge ball?"

"Who you calling a albino worm?" The rest of the sentence is too vile for a PG-13 audience.

"Stop it with your sissy fits already!" Unable to vent his frustration somewhere else, Cliff picks up the challenge. "Oh I'm sorry, you already dress like one so why don't you become one?"

"Cliff!" Mirage scolds, but it falls on deaf ears.

Red eyes burns with intense anger, its glaze can probably burn through solid metal. Nel makes a mental note to thank Apris if the party should live through this day as she continues to try to hold the Glyphian back.

"Be careful what you call me maggot, or you might find your own intestines hanging you from the ceiling." The Glyphian hisses.

"Ha! Why don't you… "

"Cliff, that is enough!" The Kluasian woman said sharply, and to reinforce her words, she again punches her partner into silence.

Cliff fell backwards from the sudden attack, invisible bunnies dancing around his head.

"There, now maybe you can be quiet." Mirage said, her voice annoyed as she cracks her fists.

The next series of sound the party hear is frankly quite strange and disturbing, it takes them a moment to realize that Albel has broke out laughing and is still laughing as the others stares at him, wondering if he had lost his last marble.

"So, what are we doing now?" Albel the Wicked said as he recovered after a full minute of hysterical laughter as if nothing happened and Fayt makes a mental note that he should never try to figure out how Albel's mind works, it's better for his sanity that way.

"Let's get to that later." Nel sighs. One headache, coming right up. "Fayt, go get changed. Albel, you too, put something on. Everyone else should go get their breakfast. We can talk after we ate."

Everyone nods at the suggestion and turns to go on their way. No one notices that as Mirage helps Cliff get up, she whispers something in his ear.

"Go take a shower," She suggest. "A VERY cold one."

"Why?" The Klausian man, feeling quite abused, answers. "Look, I'm sorry I did that to Fayt, but that doesn't mean…"

"No, Cliff, really. Take a icy shower." Mirage pats his shoulder as she also goes on her way. "Your pants won't feel as tight if you do."

* * *

"Albel, can you explain what happened to you?" Nel asks later, when the party has been reassembled downstairs. The innkeeper wasn't very happy to know that he'd have to build a new door AND a new wall that the door can hang onto, but a few thousand Fol later, he was happy as a pig in the mud. 

"How should I know, worm? I woke up this morning and I'm already like this." The swordsman shrugs. He'd taken the time to dry himself and put on something. To the amazement of the other party members, who aren't aware that Albel's wardrobe consist of anything that doesn't reveal what they are suppose to cover up. The swordsman has added a black bodysuit to his other set of pieces that looks like his usual getup but different in color. Most likely trying to hide the bluish patterns that have also appeared on the rest of his body in addition to the ones on his face. Still, it might be better if he hasn't; the black material hugs the man's body so tight it might as well be a second skin. Making the delicate lines even more visible and hard to ignore. The Glyphian had also reattached his mechanical arm and is flexing it presently to see if he'd gotten all the connections tuned right.

Fayt sits next to him, happily dry and sipping on some hot soup while under the warmth of a heavy blanket. But the youth can't help but to sneak a peek every now and then at his roommate, Nel can't blame him, she found the sight quite pleasant herself. Cliff, however, can. Since he is refusing to look anywhere near the Black Brigade captain.

"When would that be?" Maria asks.

"Crack of dawn."

"You wake up that early?" Cliff exclaims, icing a black eye from the last punch Mirage gave him. But he still won't look at the swordsman.

"Everyday." The tall Elicoorian sneers.

"That's because you always wake up from those night…" Fayt stops when Albel gives him a particular nasty glare that promises an iron maiden-y death shall he reveal any more information.

"What?" Cliff asks.

"None of your business worm." Albel growls. "Anyway, when I woke up and saw myself in the reflection on the window, I was already like this. I thought maybe some fool was playing a jest on me so I went to see if this stuff washes off…" And he leaves the sentence hanging.

"Did you eat anything strange? Or come in contact with anything weird?" Nel presses on.

"I'm with you lot of fools, I think you know the answer."

"We are getting nowhere, we should just backtrack." Maria suddenly suggests. "If we can't find anything there we should retrace our steps until we find out what caused the shifting of color pigments."

"Why do we even have to bother?" Cliff frowns. "Sure he looks a bit weird, but Albel's a freak to begin with."

It should be noted that it takes the combine efforts of all the other party members to stop the captain of the Black Brigade from wasting the Klausian right there and then, with his usual coloring or no.

"We don't know what caused this problem, or if it's causing any lasting damage internally." Maria explains as everyone settles down again. "We also need to find out if it is contagious."

Before Cliff has a chance to say his suggestion, Fayt and Mirage quickly slap their hands over the man's mouth. They've already reached the quota for maniacal killing urges for one day.

* * *

The workshop is as messy as it was when the trio left the previous night. Hammers aren't put into their correct spot and bottles of unknown liquid with unappetizing colors take up a corner of the table. Maria puts out where they were and what items they used last night before everyone scatters to look for clues. 

Suddenly Sophia stops what she's doing and takes a closer look at Albel, her brows concentrates in deep thinking.

"What is it?" Fayt asks her when he notices that she has stop searching.

"Albel." She replies. "Doesn't he remind you of someone like this?"

"Someone?" Fayt murmurs as he again studies the tall swordsman. "… he does… doesn't he?"

"What are you guys talking about?" The Klausian man overhears part of conversation and asks curiously.

Sophia repeats her question with him and again gets an affirmative answer, Mirage also agrees, and Nel, then Maria relenctly, it wasn't long until the rest of the party stares at the highly irate man in curiosity.

"What the hell are you maggots looking at?" Albel finally spits at them.

"Err… Albel?" Fayt, the unanimous chosen speaker aka the sucker said tentatively. "Are you… in anyway, related to Mackwell?"


End file.
